Hutchins Conversations
James & Marguerite Hutchins Conversation
Made possible by the Hutchins Family Foundation, this series commemorates the lives of two remarkable North Carolinians who traveled the world, fought world hunger, and cared deeply about the future of the American South. Recent conversations have addressed Appalachian storytelling traditions, connections between free markets and desegregated schools, and challenges for rural health care.
Jon Parrish Peede is Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. His previous positions include publisher of the Virginia Quarterly Review (VQR) at the University of Virginia, literature grants director at the National Endowment for the Arts, counselor to NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, director of the NEA Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience program, director of the NEA Big Read program, director of communications at Millsaps College, and editor at Mercer University Press with a focus on the humanities.
William R. Ferris is Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History Emeritus and Senior Associate Director Emeritus of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His previous positions include Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, Associate Professor of Afro-American Studies and American Studies at Yale University, and Assistant Professor of English at Jackson State University.
Learn more about this event here.